Weekend bulletin from Bettina Arndt

Bettina attacks feminist male-bashing with facts

The big news is Sydney University seems to be trying to stop my September 11 campus talk from happening.

It’s now over 10 days since the university’s Liberal Club students applied for a venue for me to speak at an event scheduled for Tuesday evening, September 11, and the administration claims to be still processing the request.

This is clearly a stalling tactic, hoping the whole problem will just disappear if they refuse to provide somewhere for the event. I have written a letter to the Vice Chancellor, Michael Spence, asking him to make sure the event happens. We also have that letter up on my Facebook page which might be easier to circulate.

As for the other news about the campus tour, the La Trobe event all set for 11am Thurs Sept 6 at Eastern Lecture Theatre, 3. (ELT-3). Do come along and support me. The university is arranging some solid security.

There’s been predictable coverage on social media sites like buzzfeed and whimn.com, a feminist site. I think it is excellent that these sites are discussing my views. Hopefully these articles will reach many people who have never been exposed to the truth about this issue.  

But the great news is many other university groups are now inviting me to speak, including Liberal Clubs from the University of Queensland, Murdoch and Canberra and we have raised nearly $2000 in a crowd-funder to help students to fund costs of the events, including my travel. https://www.gofundme.com/h9qp7

Email from Tina (bettina@bettinaarndt.com.au)





Radical priest misrepresents God

Rod Bower ignores the Bible messages about homosexuality (Jude 1:7; 1 Timothy 1:8-11; Mark 10:6-9; 1 Corinthians 6:9-11; 1 Corinthians 7:2; Leviticus 18:32; Leviticus 20:13; Genesis 19:4-8).  He probably means well but according to the Bible he is leading men into perdition.  He is just a "social justice" warrior in a clerical collar

RADICAL Aussie Priest Rod Bower is far from your average man of the cloth.

His liberal views on gay rights, asylum seekers, Islam and treatment of indigenous Australians have seen him accused my some believers as a traitor to their idea of Christian values.

And, we’re not just talking about a few nasty comments from his tens of thousands of followers on social media.

Some of these extremists regularly send death threats and they have even invaded his church on NSW’s Central Coast to terrorise him and his worshippers on two occasions.

Ahead of the launch of his autobiographical book, Outspoken — which will be released this month — he told news.com.au about his anger over the double-standards of so-called Christian politicians like Scott Morrison and how Christianity in Australia has been hijacked by right-wing extremists.

Fr Bower’s life-changing moment came when he randomly made a last-minute decision to go to church when he was hungover on Christmas Day in 1984.

And, his life was transformed once again almost 20 years later when he created a sign outside his Gosford church, which would make the world sit up and take notice.



The story behind Fr Bower’s infamous “some ppl are gay” sign began on July 23, 2013 when he got a phone call from a woman whose brother was dying.

“She asked me if I could administer the last rites at his home,” he wrote in his new book. “At the agreed time I duly presented myself at the door in order to administer the sacrament.

“The man was unconscious, lying in a hospital-type bed in the living room of his well-appointed apartment.”

Mr Bower met the dying man’s sister, and when he received some awkward answers to questions about the man’s love life — he guessed what was going on.

“The assumption was that the church — and therefore, the family had figured, me as the church’s representative — was unable to accept a same-sex union as valid,” he wrote.

“I was deeply disturbed by this and incredibly troubled as I drove back to the church. The adrenaline was surging through me for a long time afterwards.”

He wanted to show the world he was supportive of LGBTI people. He turned to the sign outside his church and used the power of social media to spread his message.

He called that moment, when he was being asked awkward questions by a dying man’s family, the “straw that broke the camels back”. He was filled with rage.

But now he had a platform to express this rage and he used it to champion three major issues: marriage equality, asylum seekers and climate change.

SOURCE 






Victoria Police criticised for 'no arrest' policy following violent brawl

Victoria Police top brass are reeling from deepening criticism that their no-arrest policy is failing to tame teen gangs following a violent street brawl that involved more than 200 ­African-Australian and Pacific ­Islander youths and ended in a terrifying car ­attack.

An 18-year-old man was in hospital in a critical condition last night with leg injuries after being hit by a car at the end of a huge fight that broke out at a ­record label launch early yesterday morning.

Five other youths were hospitalised with injuries suffered during a fight in the street.

The latest public brawl involving African-Australian youths comes three weeks after riot police and helicopters were called to control a clash between warring teens in the outer-northwestern suburb of Taylors Hill.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has called for a tougher approach to policing in Victoria following the latest violent brawl.

Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Graham Ashton established an African-Australian Community Taskforce in January to deal with youth crime. Since then, there have been several out-of-control parties and violent robberies.

In July, 19-year-old South Sudan­ese woman Laa Chol was stabbed to death after an altercation at an Airbnb party.

Former Victoria Police chief commissioner Kel Glare said the latest event was evidence the police strategy to tame the teens was not working and a new ­approach was needed, including on-the-spot ­arrests.

“I am losing hope this will be solved under the current leadership of Victoria Police,” he said. “If you don’t make arrests on the spot, these kids will just continue to act the way they do … these black African kids are easily identifiable but the police are so risk-averse.”

He said some measures required to make on-the-spot ­arrests during public outbursts of violence could be confronting for the public but were necessary.

“The community needs to know it will take some rough work to make those arrests,” he said.

Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton echoed Mr Glare’s comments, saying a new approach was necessary because the state Labor government had “lost control”.

“Daniel Andrews has lost control of law and order in Victoria,” he said. “The longer the Premier refuses to act, the more people will be at risk of serious injury.

“It is a disgrace and innocent people are victims to these thugs while Mr Andrews refuses to act.”

Officers were called to Smith Street in inner-suburban Collingwood soon after 2.45am yesterday after reports of a fight between ­African-Australian and Pacific Islander youths leaving the “66 Records Label Launch” at the ­Gasometer Hotel.

The pub’s management declined to comment yesterday.

The teens reportedly ran riot down Smith Street, jumping on cars and brawling as they went, ­before congregating on nearby Mater Street.

Soon after police arrived, a car drove at speed into a group of youths on the side of the street, pinning the 18-year-old against another car and seriously injuring his leg.

Victoria Police is yet to make any arrests but says it anticipates some will be made in coming days.

Mr Glare, chief commissioner from 1987 to 1992, said he did not want police to attack teens but force ultimately would have to be used despite protests from some in the community.

“Most people don’t want to be arrested, and I’m simply saying there will be some physical activity involved. Police shouldn’t go out of their way but appropriate force should be used.

“Of course there is an element of society which will cry from the rooftops about police brutality and all that nonsense. “The vast silent majority will accept that police need to use the force necessary.”

Former NSW police assistant commissioner Clive Small said a review of Victoria’s strategy on dealing with African-Australian youths was needed after multiple violent incidents. “When there are an increasing number of these ­violent events, I always think it’s best to do a proper review of what police are doing and what needs to change,” he said. “These events just seem to be happening in increasing ­numbers.”

Residents who watched as the brawl unfold outside their homes said police were “completely outnumbered” and unable to control the crowd after the car ploughed into pedestrians.

Collingwood resident Josh Whelan detailed horrifying scenes just outside his new apartment, saying the car involved in the ­attack deliberately accelerated before it ploughed into the brawling teens.

“The car came at a very steady pace before it sped up and aimed at the group that were bashing each other … it was unbelievable,” he said. “I wasn’t so scared … I was up here, but I was scared for the people in the street.”

Neighbours in the street reported seeing a car speeding towards the crowd, where it hit a young man and pinned him against ­another car.

Other reports detail gang members being physically ­aggressive to residents who came out of their homes to help the injured after their heard the loud smash.

Mr Whelan said he was shocked to hear police had still not made any arrests after the brawl. “I think the police do a good job but I couldn’t understand that there’s been no arrests,” he said.  “If there’s no arrests, what if they just keep doing stuff like this?”

Another male Collingwood resident speaking to The Australian said he saw a group of about 60 to 70 youths of African appearance starting to brawl outside his window at 2.30 in the morning, and that police were “completely outnumbered” and “unable to control the crowd”.

North West Regional Commander Tim Hansen said persons of interest had left the scene very quickly but they had identified the driver of the car and were planning to talk to him. Mr Hansen said he expected to make an arrest in the next 24 hours.

Victorian Police Minister Lisa Neville rejected suggestions that police needed to change their strategy, and said there was evidence its current strategy, as well as new officers boosting numbers in the force, were contributing to a fall in the rate of violent crime.

Victoria chief executive Wayne Gatt said the event demonstrated that police did not have the numbers they needed to be a visible presence in trouble spots around the city.

He also defended police who prioritise dispersing crowds over making arrests, reasoning that each arrest takes two officers away from the frontline and could leave the rest of the team exposed ­during a large flare-up.

But he agreed with a suggestion that a lack of arrests would “100 per cent, absolutely” embolden troublemakers to act out again.

“We’re coming from behind the eight-ball,” Mr Gatt told 3AW.  “Years ago, we would have had police walking in and out of ­licensed venues every Friday and Saturday night, checking on patrons, looking for trouble spots (but) we simply don’t have the same numbers anchored to police ­stations.”

SOURCE 






Breeding Green Elephants in Australia

by Viv Forbes

Canberra breeds many white elephants, but now they are breeding a gigantic new breed of pachyderm in Australia’s Snowy Mountains – a Green Elephant. Grandly named “Snowy 2.0 Hydro-Electric”, it has the compulsory green skin, but it is just another big white elephant under a thick layer of green paint.

Snowy 2.0 plans a hugely expensive complex of dams, tunnels, pumps, pipes, generators, roads and powerlines. Water will be pumped up-hill using grid power in times of low demand, and then released when needed to recover some of that energy. To call it “hydro-electric” is a fraud – it will not store one extra litre of water and will be a net consumer of electric power. It is a giant electric storage battery to be recharged using grid power.

This is just the next episode in an expensive and impossible green dream to run Australian cities and industries, plus a growing electric vehicle fleet, on intermittent wind and solar energy and without coal, gas, oil or nuclear fuels.

Surely we can learn from the unfolding disaster of a similar German Grand Plan.  See  here

The first stage of Australia’s green dream was to demonise coal and nuclear power, set onerous green energy and CO2 emissions targets, subsidise and mandate the use of intermittent energy from wind and solar, and give electric cars financial and other privileges. All of this costs Australian electricity users and tax payers at least $5 billion per year. This destructive force-feeding of solar and wind power is well advanced.

Solar energy peaks around mid-day, falls to zero from dusk to dawn and is much reduced by clouds, dust and smoke. Over a year it may produce about 16% of name-plate capacity. Thus a solar-battery system would need installed solar capacity of six times the demand. These solar “farms” are very land-hungry per unit of usable energy, often sterilising large areas of agricultural land.

Wind energy is much more erratic - it can produce about 35% of peak capacity but often produces peak power during the night when there is low demand. It may produce zero power for several days. A sudden high wind can send wind power surging onto the grid, and it falls to zero as the wind dies. Wind power driving a wind-battery system would need installed wind capacity of triple the expected demand, but even that may not cope with a long windless spell. There can be days with zero production from either wind or solar, and neither can increase output to meet demand which often peaks around dinner time and breakfast time when green power is scarce. Wind “farms” are a blight on the landscape and are often built in scenic areas where farming and forestry are prohibited.

The price of electricity fluctuates wildly as these floods and droughts of intermittent green energy surge into the grid. This creates instability, increases the chance of blackouts and destroys the viability of reliable coal-fired generators which are unable to ramp up fast enough to profit from soaring power prices during green energy droughts and are forced to keep running while accepting close-to-zero prices during the green deluges. To speed up this destruction of reliable energy, politicians are still using subsidies and targets to encourage more green energy to be dumped randomly onto the grid.

For a short very clear video on the cost and reliability problems caused by wind power in Minnesota see here

Warren Buffett puts it bluntly: “We get a tax credit if we build a lot of wind farms.  That’s the only reason to build them. They don’t make sense without the tax credit.”

The solution to green energy disruption is simple. Do not allow any new spasmodic generators like wind and solar to connect direct to the grid. They must construct or contract for battery or other backup to moderate their fluctuations and increase reliability and predictability. Existing wind-solar farms already connected to the grid should lose all subsidies and be paid what their second class product is worth at the time it floods onto the grid.

Backing up and taming green energy is simple in principle – it can be done using lithium batteries like the Musk monster in South Australia, or giant pumped-hydro schemes like Snowy 2.0. Or conventional reliable generators like hydro, gas, oil, coal or nuclear can be operated intermittently to fill green energy gaps.

Other ways to store and release energy would also work in principle – hydrogen generation, molten salt, compressed air or giant flywheels – all look smart when sketched on the doodle pads of green politicians and then modelled on academic computers. But they become progressively more complicated and expensive as they progress to engineering design, costing, construction, operation and maintenance. Reality will reappear when the bills start hitting consumers and tax payers, but by then it is too late to recover all those wasted resources.

To make things worse for consumers and industry, widely scattered green energy installations usually need new roads for construction and maintenance and new transmission lines to transport their unreliable product to where it can be used (some 30 new transmission lines are currently planned in Australia alone to connect green energy facilities, and more will be needed.) Those who profit from this green infrastructure get guaranteed returns based on capital, maintenance and operating costs, not on the value of its contribution to consumers, and as usual consumers and taxpayers pay the bills.

Industry and households are now waking up to the costs and blackout risks facing them as more coal-fired generators are forced to close as evermore intermittent generators de-stabilise the grid and cause wild price swings. But politicians have yet another plan to paper over the growing supply problems from un-reliables as they try to meet the self-imposed emissions targets.

Recently the Turnbull Federal Government committed over $7 billion in studies and purchase price to buy the existing Hydro-electric complex in the Snowy Mountains from state governments. This valuable project conserves water which is used for irrigation and electricity generation. However they plan to burden this useful profitable project with another green dream - a Giant Battery.

Snowy 2.0 will consume electricity mainly from distant generators in the Hunter and Latrobe Valleys to pump water from lower dams to upper dams, and then recover part of this energy by releasing the stored water back downhill to drive turbines. The electricity recovered will be sent mainly to the big but distant demand centres of Sydney and Melbourne thus incurring more transmission losses. All of these unavoidable losses mean that Snowy 2.0 will only recover about 60% of the energy it takes from the grid. (This low recovery is one reason that existing pumped hydro facilities like Tumut 3 in the Snowy and Wivenhoe in Queensland are seldom used).

The system also imprisons Snowy water which could be used to generate new power and then flow into Snowy irrigation schemes. This Canberra-bred green elephant aims to profit from fluctuating wind-solar supply and prices, but it will make things worse for electricity consumers in the long run by helping to destroy low-cost, reliable base-load energy from coal.

Electricity supply will then become a lottery – every time the wind drops, the panels are shaded and the Giant Battery is flat, the lights will go out. South Australia has shown us how easy this is.

If there is also a long drought affecting hydro-electric supply in the Snowy and Tasmania, base load electricity supply will rely on a few geriatric coal generators. If a major transmission line is then damaged or fails, we will all need all the diesels in our sheds. Tasmania has provided a lesson for us all - they had a hydro drought and then a broken transmission cable and were forced to hurriedly purchase 200MW of diesel engines at a cost of $64M to keep their lights on.

In the coming brave new electric world, compulsory smart meters will decide which suburbs, homes, heaters, coolers, pumps, dairies, draglines or factories are switched off when power supply fails to meet demand.

Snowy 2.0 will be the biggest and most expensive storage battery in Australia with some 2,700 times the capacity of South Australia’s lithium Green Elephant. It will probably require upgrading of the transmissions lines to the big demand centres of Sydney and Melbourne and to the remaining real power stations which will supply most of the electricity to run its pumps.

All of this is supposedly being constructed to help Australia meet its costly but self-imposed emissions target. However there will probably be an increase in emissions if this Green Elephant is created. The project will require a huge amount of concrete, steel, copper, diesel and electricity to manufacture, transport and install the pipes, pumps, generators, roads and transmission lines and to bore 27 km of new tunnels. Pumping all that water up-hill regularly and repairing and maintaining the system in the coldest place in Australia will not be cheap in dollars, energy or emissions. Careful accounting of all long term effects will probably show no emissions savings whatsoever.

Snowy 2.0 is being constructed to moderate the fluctuations in green energy production and to kill coal power faster. It will do this. But will not be able to guarantee electricity supply with any certainty – if we have a week of windless cloudy weather, and there is not enough coal or gas power, the demand for electricity will quickly drain the Snowy 2.0 reservoirs. Then where does the power come from to pump the Snowy water back up the hill and keep the lights on? SA’s giant lithium battery may keep Adelaide powered for a few minutes, but what about Townsville, Toowoomba and Tamworth?

However, if politicians are determined to build Snowy 2-0, it could be put to much better use than pumping water uphill to run down again. Our electricity would be more secure and cheaper if we ceased all force-feeding of wind-solar un-reliables, used coal, gas or nuclear power running continuously at capacity to supply the stable “base load” of electricity demand, and used schemes like Snowy 2.0 to cover peak load fluctuations above this base load. This would create a stable grid providing reliable low-cost power (so it has little chance of happening with green gremlins in charge of energy.)

SOURCE 







Journalist Shane Dowling has been jailed in NSW for exposing paedophile judges and judicial bribery

Australian journalist Shane Dowling has been jailed for publishing articles exposing paedophile judges and judges taking bribes. The exact charge against Mr Dowling is contempt of court because he repeated in court on the 3rd of February 2017 part of an article he had published and also for publishing an article about the contempt proceedings in breach of suppression orders.

Chief Justice Tom Bathurst has been trying to jail Shane Dowling since he sent an email to all the judges of the Supreme Court of NSW and wrote an article in September 2016 titled "Paedophile priest gets 3 months jail for raping 3 boys by NSW Supreme Court’s Justice Hoeben".  In the email, which was also published in the article, Chief Justice Tom Bathurst was named as a known paedophile and 17 other judicial officers were named as known paedophiles or suspected paedophiles and allegations of judicial bribery were also raised.

Chief Justice Tom Bathurst had the NSW Police raid Mr Dowling’s unit in June 2017 and charge him for sending the email. The charge was withdrawn by the Commonwealth Director of Prosecutions on the 28th March 2018 as it was a blatantly malicious charge.

Mr Dowling raised a number of precedents in his last article which support why he shouldn’t have been found guilty as he was only exercising his right to free speech and political communication. Click here to read the last article: Journalist Shane Dowling to be sentenced to possible jail for criticizing a judge and Registrar Christopher Bradford

There are many articles on this website outlining what happened including the malicious police charge that was eventually withdrawn.

SOURCE 

Posted by John J. Ray (M.A.; Ph.D.).    For a daily critique of Leftist activities,  see DISSECTING LEFTISM.  To keep up with attacks on free speech see Tongue Tied. Also, don't forget your daily roundup  of pro-environment but anti-Greenie  news and commentary at GREENIE WATCH .  Email me  here